Is CNN Listening to Lou Dobbs?

Today we read on CNN’s website, some sort of explanation to a few “mistakes” this guy made while supposedly reporting from his high chair. Not only doesn’t he prove that the NYT article is inaccurate; on the contrary, he readily admits that what was said was a mistake. His defense his a mumbo jumbo of words trying to confuse the fact the he indeed was not reporting but merely expressing “his” view of the issues involved. On the case of the prisons being populated by 2/3 of illegal aliens his explanation was that:

“We reported that one-third of the federal prison population three and a half years ago were "non-citizens….The exact number of the year in question was 29.3 percent for fiscal year 2001.” Oh, he meant 29.3 not 33%, that sure makes a difference!

At the same time, while he’s referring to non-citizens here, he said that in his opening stated:

“I introduced that report three and a half years ago by saying the number of illegal immigrants in our prisons was increasing and the financial burden rising."

This introduction, if anything, is a blatant attempt to relate the real story on our prisons holding non-citizens and equating them with illegal aliens.

I’m not going to tell you about other “mistakes” he admits to, you can read the story at CNN.COM yourself.

My point is that, for as long as I remember, Lou Dobbs as made a good living trying to create a respectable figure of himself among certain people who are opposed to immigration and immigrants. Those who share his position I’m sure are very happy to listen to his babble but the fact that he’s on CNN makes it despicable because the media itself is supposed to be impartial and transparent.

CNN, by allowing this guy, day after day, to reinforce in the minds of the public that immigrants are really a dangerous, resource-sucking crowd, is putting whatever good reputation may have as a source of information in the category of gossip and trash.

Lou Dobbs is nothing but an opportunist continuously exploiting the lower instincts of his audience for his own benefit and enrichment. Nothing better than the other big fat idiot, Rush Limbaugh, who made a living blasting Clinton for so many years.
These are one-script talkers. Take the one or two issues they spouse and nothing is left there.

The fact that Dobbs looks good on TV, “respectable” and “credible” means nothing to me but unfortunately there’s a lot of people who are convinced his word is the gospel. That’s the real danger.

Cindy Sheeahn’s farewell

has been painful to me in many ways. She is the face of countless people, like myself, who believes this government has failed all of us while pursuing a war without justification and in the process allowing young soldiers to be sacrificed to cover their inadequacies as leaders.

However, I can understand her frustration and desire to resume some sort of normal life, far away from the mendacities of Washington, politics and corporate influences that makes the so-called American way of life.
We are surrounded by petty politicians who are more concerned about their problems than ours, more preoccupied in pleasing colleagues and lobbyists than their own constituents and in the process whomever or whatever gets in their way is either ignored or destroyed.

Cindy Sheehan may retire from the front and stay out of the struggle for truth regarding the present war, but she will never be forgotten and perhaps her most important contribution has been awakening others - including myself - to the sour facts and criminal actions from the top down.

Her victory may not have been the vindication of her son’s untimely death but, if is any consolation, her victory goes beyond that, because she has shown what America should be, a land of real freedom and where controversial issues are discussed openly and without fear. She has also shown to all of us the ugly side of our elected representatives in a time of crisis. Hopefully, next time we vote, we’ll really think hard before marking those cards.

Good luck Cindy and be sure you’ll stay in the minds of all who love peace and truth in government.

The Mouse that Roared

"Their" chart.... Our chart...





For some time now, I’ve been saying that all the optimistic figures regarding our economy are slanted and presented to us by the media in such a way that creates the illusion of a good standard of living in our country. Well, now thanks to the latest report from the Census Bureau the truth is out.

Relying on such figures, the study's authors found that after adjusting for inflation, men in their 30s in 2004 had a median income of about $35,000 per year, for a 12 percent drop compared with $40,000 per year for men in the same age group in 1974.
In other words, in 30 years we have gone backwards in our real take home pay. Is this progress?

However, daily accounts of the stock market revel on the ever-increasing gains.

DOW + 66.15 + 0.49% 13,507.28 NASDAQ + 19.27 + 0.76% 2,557.19 As of close May 25 S&P

Remember when the DOW broke the 12000 barrier not long ago? Never mind that! Now they are looking forward perhaps to a 14000 as a target.

And this game is the one that government and media are playing constantly. Huge gains in the market, which theoretically at least should translate into a trickle down of better salaries and benefits, right? Forget it! Most of the workers are not better, many don’t even have a job anymore, millions have lost their health protection and the prices we all pay for everyday necessities are constantly going up. That’s our reality.

Of course that’s not the reality of Wal-Mart, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, GE and many other giants or that of their CEO’s, COO’s or however other CXX’s you want to name them. These guys and the shareholders of those companies are the ones enjoying the profits and the growth. And goes without saying that is in some form the reality of our representatives in Congress or our employees at the White House, since they have their own ways to pad their road to retirement, at our expense.

More and more we are headed into a society where just a few people will dictate the terms of our subsistence and it’s very little we can do. Those at the top of course won’t even blink by comments like this. The mid-tier, happy to stay in the game and pocket some of the spoils, must show support or else, and the vast majority, the lower tier better keep their mouth shut while they still get a paycheck. That’s inside.

On the outside, we have no help whatsoever since the only hope would have been an active and independent media to expose the grossness of it all and those outlets, the ones we see everyday, everywhere in print or TV and radio are practically owned by, guess who?

Internet is perhaps where we can hear, if we pay enough attention, the traditional roar of the mouse. Can you hear it? Hell, I don’t even think you are paying attention. Come back, come back, and leave that Tivo alone!

Propuesta Ley de Inmigración

CUIDADO CON LAS ESTAFAS!

Existen muchas opiniones referente a la ley que se está discutiendo en estos días para normalizar la situación de millones de indocumentados en el país, la mayoría de países de habla hispana. Es por eso que quiero aportar mi granito de arena a esta cuestión y, en primer lugar, prevenir a todos los que se interesen y estén en esa situación, que NO GASTEN SU DINERO TODAVIA.
Ya se han puesto en marcha varios defraudadores que prometen solucionarle el problema y están comenzando, según ellos, a preparar los documentos necesarios.

ES MENTIRA!

Debido a que ni siquiera se ha aprobado una ley definitiva, es imposible que esa gente pueda comenzar a preparar documento alguno ya que no se sabe aún cuales serán los términos de la ley misma.
En principio, si hubiera un acuerdo entre el Congreso y la Presidencia y esto se convierte en ley, se habla de que las personas que entraron a los Estados Unidos antes del 1 de enero del 2001 y están sin documentos legales podrían solicitar un tipo de visa bautizado “Visa Z” la cual les daría el derecho de permanecer en el país, trabajar y poner sus asuntos en orden sin temor a ser deportados. Se habla de una multa de $5000 dólares, pagaderos en cuotas posiblemente, para los que reciban el beneficio. Dentro de los 8 años de haberse obtenido esta visa, los beneficiarios deberán regresar a su país de origen con garantía de ser re-admitidos. También se habla de que todos los beneficiarios podrán recibir cursos de inglés, lengua que sería necesaria para consolidar su permanencia en el futuro, y también se dice que los beneficios de familia podrían ser limitados de alguna forma.
Al mismo tiempo, el Congreso está debatiendo el asunto de trabajadores temporarios (cosa separada) con admisión de 2 años por cada término, renovable a otros 2 años y salida del país entre admisiones de 1 año.
Así está la cuestión por el momento. NADIE puede garantizarle absolutamente nada en este momento hasta que se promulgue una ley, de forma que, una vez mas, NO PAGUE HONORARIOS A NADIE POR AHORA. NO SE DEJE ESTAFAR!

Yo me he ocupado de preparar documentos de migraciones y cuestiones relacionadas en este país por 30 años y he visto como muchos abusan de las personas que están necesitadas de ayuda.

Si usted quiere tener información acerca de esta nueva propuesta de ley y recibirla a tiempo para comenzar sus trámites, envíe su dirección de email con el “Subject:” Nueva Ley a mi dirección electrónica: Informacion y le mantendré informado de cualquier novedad que se produzca.

The Selling of Patriotism

In Las Vegas, there is this guy, Dan Towbin, owner of a Hummer dealership, who decided to install an American flag on a 100 ft tall pole to show “his patriotism” and also with the promise to build a memorial for military veterans at the base of such flag. After some controversial review he was ordered to lower the height of the pole within a certain period of time or the city would do it for him. The future will bring the outcome of this story, but what irks me is that so many people in this city, and I guess others somewhere in the country, exploit the flag, the military and the patriotic feelings most of us have, for personal gain. Towbin is nothing but a car dealer who wants to call attention to his business, period. All that protest of patriotism on his part sounds hollow, given the fact that if he really wants to show his colors there are many other things, good things he could do, like donating money to the veterans hospital for example, instead of building a personal memorial in front of a bunch of cars. He’s kidding no one with this. A car dealership is no place for a serious memorial to honor vets, just a marker on the road very useful for advertising. But then again this is Las Vegas, home of the crass and land of the shifty.

My perspective on Scientology

About 20 years ago I used to live in Hollywood, California. Back then, because of my work, I had to pass the building where Scientology was located (I don’t’ remember if it was called a church then), but I do remember the hasslers passing out flyers and more or less putting their bodies to make your walk difficult in order to offer something that had to do with a free test. Since I’ve never paid much attention to them and considered an annoyance their perennial presence, I can’t tell you what the test involved, but I do know by many accounts that it was sort of a brainwashing technique dreamed by Ron Hubbard, the founder of the thing. Hubbard, by all accounts, was a writer of science fiction and his books have been widely read but that alone, 20 years later, can’t show anyone that Scientology is a legitimate church. Sure, they can call it a church, simply because in this country as far as religion goes, any crack head can found one if it follows the rules and registers. As a matter of fact, come to think of it, I could create a church in my own home, provided I conduct services and have a few followers. Will that make me a believable pastor or another crack head? Who knows.

The same way I doubt Scientology has anything to do with religion and is more of a cult with a bunch of followers guided by their own personal goals. What amazes me is the number of high profile people involved in this, mostly from the entertainment industry, who are declared “scientologists”. People that otherwise seem intelligent, well educated and by most measures successful, brought recognition to what a few years ago, was simply a concocted and weird far out bunch of premises, like their connection with aliens and such. And before all scientologists get upset with me, let me also tell you that I don’t believe Mormons are part of a real church either. Some guy a couple of hundred years ago when everyone was preoccupied with colonizing the west, found what it turn out to be a real church out of practically nothing but his own feverish mind and the need of his followers to grasp onto something besides despair.

When many traditional religions are under the microscope, from Catholicism to Judaism and everything in between, here we have all this newcomers (by biblical standards) force feeding their ideas to others and frankly I don’t think everything is done to foster the most noble principles, especially when we witness the tightness of these, what I call, cults, and the many secrets they hold from strangers.

My idea of a religion is one that accepts everyone without reservations and opens the doors to any scrutiny and that’s not what Scientology does. On the contrary, they conduct their business, for that is what it is, probably better than the CIA or the FBI when it‘s time for secrecy. Simple souls who have joined, probably don’t even know how they’re being manipulated, and that’s the beauty of their “system”, having a flock of followers who are real believers in whatever they say. The others, the ones I mentioned with brains and money are probably there because they feed from each other the same way members of a secret society help one another.

In any case, if you must join a church at least try to find one that relates to God and not some dead writer who must be having a ball in the spiritual world looking down on his silly creation. Next time I’ll try to come up with ideas for new churches and some interesting names. May be I can sell them on Ebay.

Who Gives a F***

Warning! This post contains crude language, which I rarely use and may not be suitable for underage people or delicate souls. Here we go..

I am totally fed up with every little piece of shit that these Muslim extremists created for television. Today on CNN, yet another commentary about a supposedly original diatribe from a guy named al-Zawahiri, second in command (really?) of the Taliban. This guy with unkempt beard and some marking on his forehead, whatever that is, keeps on giving advice to others, like Hamas, Muslims and even the rest of us as if there is an organized plan from a central government. Well, there is not ! The hard core Taliban are nothing but loose gangs of crazy maniacs which having nothing to live for prefer to die and find out if they can hit it big in the afterlife. Their way of life seems to be: Get together every day for countless hours, chant whatever they chant to brainwash themselves, after that, go home, say goodbye and strap yourselves with a few sticks of dynamite. Finally, pick a bunch of bystanders, walk into the crowd and blow yourselves up and everyone around you.

If it weren’t for the fact that this is real life, it could be the theme for a Tarantino movie!

I have a few words for this turban-wearing guy: Go and SCREW yourself! I wasn’t born in the Islamic cult and I don’t even understand what the fuck you are talking about. Hidden imam? Why is he hiding and from whom? I am not willing to learn about the Quran and Sunna (what the heck is Sunna?). In other words, you believe in whatever you want but don’t expect the entire World to follow you and your twisted theories.

I also have a word for the media in general: STOP patronizing these imbeciles ! You are playing into their hands and have become a willing vehicle for their revolting statements. Might as well go to any nuthouse in the U.S. and tape the ranting of our own crazies!

While I agree that we should get the hell out of Iraq, I don’t want our government to do it because of idiotic comments from guys like this, but because we must stop the casualty count of our troops.

Let’s not get involved in giving credit to lunatics. Some people may assume that we are taking steps as a response to their ranting. We must get out now and let the Muslims take care of their own. We don’t’ understand shit about their way of thinking and their life style, not well enough to blend, much less to reason with extremists staring at a camera somewhere in a God forsaken place.

That’s my piece.

The two faces of the immigration problem

Under the guise of a paternalistic image and an impeccable delivery, Lou Dobbs represents the convenient interpretation of the purse holders on the immigration problem in our country. On the one hand, they are very sympathetic with everyone who’s come here because of the lack of opportunities in their own soil and on the other, they blame them for every conceivable problem in our cities, from the cost of health care, education and lowering wages, to overcrowding, crime and lack of respect to our language.

Dobbs apparently resides in two conflicting worlds. The first world is the one who looks the other way when his friends and corporate buddies hire illegal people because they can get a break on labor costs and the other is the public persona we see on TV, where he preaches to us from up high about the values of our country, including respect for the law. Ah, the law, something that is supposed to be equally applied under all circumstances but it so happens that is especially enforced among the weakest of the bunch.

Dobbs raves about the illegal crowd taking jobs from Americans and he may or may not be right, I won’t disagree with this because I don’t have all the facts. However, I question why Dobbs doesn’t go after the employers who hire illegals, which are a very visible target and accomplices in this crime?

If we want people to respect the law, we should start with our own, the employers who hire undocumented or poorly documented workers. That’s the example we should give to the illegals before going after them. If we are not willing to do that, apply the laws that are in the books already, how can we preach respect for the law to those who are just entering our country in search of a better life?

There is a reason why we have more than 12 million people living here without residence papers. The reason is us, our employers, even our own government at every level who doesn’t take the time to enforce clear and well documented laws regarding who can be hired to work here and who cannot. And who does the hiring?

Of course and as usual, is easier to go after the ones who don’t have a voice, the illegal worker, than tell our friends who own a store, a business or are part of a huge corporation that they are doing something “illegal”, who wants that? They’re our neighbors and we go to church together for Pete’s sake!

Mission Accomplished: Year 4

Congress has passed legislation to funds the troops in Iraq and Mr. Bush does not like the conditions attached to it, namely a timetable for withdrawal. It’s almost certain that the president will veto this legislation and engage members of congress in negotiating a new and improved form of funding the troops “a la Bush” meaning: Give me the money and shut up.

After four years of his ill conceived declaration of mission accomplished aboard a carrier, dressed on his weekend warrior flyer suit, the president is basically alone, except of course for a few of his hard core elite of supporters and is finding out that the people, who sent the democrats to congress are not willing to give him another chance to continue the carnage of our own in Iraq.

Republicans of course are still lining up behind Bush as a matter of partisanship, but their numbers are not rock solid. Some on the right are questioning the failed strategy and taking steps to the center looking more like democrats, in some cases than democrats themselves. They are sensing the potential losses in 2008 if they continue supporting the president without questioning his policies. Even many in the military are not sure what the heck to do with the problem, while having to look professional and politically unbiased.

The crude reality is that nothing to change the situation has been done, not because of the lack of trying but because in reality there is nothing that can be done. Again and again it has been said that this is a political internal problem Iraqis have to resolve on their own. It doesn’t matter how many troops we send, how long they will stay, even if they are or not successful in controlling the situation. At some point and time, during this president’s time in office or his successor, our troops will have to come home. That’s a fact.

The American people will not stand for a permanent deployment just to secure a country and neither the Iraqis will tolerate it. So, the bottom line is that the argument made about timelines equating to loosing the war is not valid.

The war, as most Americans see it, was won when the intended objective was accomplished, getting rid of Sadam Hussein. While everyone with a half a brain understands that we were misled into taking such action, the majority of people in the US has come to terms and accepted the outcome of dethroning a guy who never posed any danger to us. Fine, we were misled, the action was taken, and the “danger” is out. On the other hand, the continuation of our presence in Iraq has been nothing more than a futile attempt to make the original sin look benign.

Bush thought that, by artificially creating a paradisiacal region in Iraq, with the oil flowing and money exchanging hands, the country would be an “example” of what can be done by sheer force applied from the west. Not to mention the enormous profits allocated to some of his corporate friends, the vice-president ‘s friends and many others who were licking their whisks thinking about how much more business could be flowing from the region.

Finally, an extra bonus if all this crazy scenario had succeeded, would have been that by westernizing Iraq, Israel finally may have enjoyed a better image in the region gaining a local ally, as opposed to being the perennial sore thumb among all the Arab countries.

Nevertheless, the situation today is such that we have two choices: Go for the Bush solution - which is stay for as long as he deems proper and nothing else in terms of relief - or, set a withdrawal date and let the Iraqis solve their own problems. To Bush and his cronies, the later is the equivalent of a defeat and I fail to understand why. Since Bush has no idea what a victory will look like, how and when can such victory come about, there is no room for defeat, just more troops being randomly killed, more Iraqis shot and decapitated by sectarian violence and more time for terrorists to train yet more insurgents and sympathizers. Every day we stay in that country we give the outcasts, urban guerrillas, terrorists or whatever you want to call them, another reason to convince more people that they have to join the effort to throw out the foreigners, namely us. Every day we stay there we also take from the Iraqis the urgency of taking care of their own business waiting for our troops to either face the problem or take the blame.

We can play the game of switching targets forever. First it was 9/11. When that was proven to be wrong, it was Sadam Hussein. After Hussein’s demise, it was the idea of reconstruction. When that failed miserably, came the idea of stabilizing the country and trying to salvage the mess we’ve created. Now that we are in an increasing cycle of violence and failure, is the idea of victory - which may prove to be very elusive - and on and on. As long as we allow the president to name new objectives over and over again, we could be there for generations or at least until a new president takes the helm in 2008 and has the guts to call things for what they really are without delusional expectations.

Some Americans, hopefully with the best intentions, pointed to the fact that if we leave Iraq it will be a disservice to those who sacrificed their lives in this war. Why? Having more American soldiers killed on behalf of a bad strategy will honor those who passed away already? I don’t’ think so. And that’s what amounts to, since Bush has no other strategy but to continue with more of the same.

I can understand there is a lot of pride at stake on the part of the president and his acolytes, especially now that are being ostracized in their policies, but Bush, if he wants to be remembered at all in the history books, could have a better chance of, if not glory, at least some consideration, by ordering our troops out of Iraq. People will remember his mistakes, misleading assertions and stupid moves, but they will also give him credit for recognizing he’s human and can have a change of heart, a minute of enlightment, beyond pure stubbornness, sarcastic remarks and carefully prepared speeches. Not counting the gratitude of parents of soldiers, today wandering if they’ll ever see their offspring alive.